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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This whole article is a great read, but this bit in particular is relevant to this discussion:

https://aeon.co/essays/dogs-are-symbolic-containers-of-human-hopes-desires-and-vices

[i]'...there is a grey area between rescuing and trading. In the US, rescues in the Northeast, where pet demand is high, are known to buy animals from shelters in the South, and transport them to where the buyers are. That some rescues essentially ‘clean out’ shelter stock so others can’t find pets is a knock-on effect. The ‘adopt, don’t shop’ message implies that it is easy enough to adopt a dog, though plenty of potential owners have found themselves stymied by the increasing demands imposed by rescue groups (home checks, references, even credit reports). Rescues can make these demands precisely because there are more people clamouring to adopt than there are dogs available.

The symbolism of the ‘rescue dog’ is that the owners can feel virtuous that they pulled this dog away from the hell of impending death at the pound, or the terrible life of a stray. In fact, because there just aren’t enough dogs at the pound to fulfil the market, some rescues even buy dogs from breeders – especially breed-specific rescues. While they might present this as ‘saving’ a dog from life with a breeder, they are in fact bidding up the price for dogs at auction – and, as anyone with a clue of economics would expect, incentivising more people to breed dogs. The price the rescues ask for dogs (whether they label it as a ‘rehoming fee’ or whatever, it is a sale price) has climbed with demand, with some asking four figures for these allegedly unwanted dogs.

Yet for the end owner (or consumer) of the dog, having the rescue serve as a middleman means they don’t feel they have bought from a puppy mill. It’s a win-win for the dog owner: they get the particular breed they want by going to a specialised rescue, and they get the moral value of ‘not having bought from a breeder’. '[/i]

[/quote]

I live in the South and volunteered with a rescue who shipped shelter dogs up north. No, it’s absolutely not true that the shelters are totally cleared out and no one local can find a dog. There are so many dogs here that the shelter has stopped taking them in, and people just dump them outside. There are strays everywhere. You could clear out the shelter and refill it to twice capacity within a day.

And people here buy dogs from backyard breeders regardless of whether shelter dogs are available. I can walk around my neighborhood and find backyard bred puppies every day. [/quote]

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